Rather than going all-out with no-holes-barred hardcore action, there’s an increasing trend where modern day action movies are pulling their punches and shooting for a 12A certificate (PG-13 rating in the US) in the hopes of potentially gaining a wider audience (despite often alienating their true, gore hungry, fanbase), and unfortunately it look as though Tak3n (Taken 3 to most people) has gone the same route, as the UK release of Tak3n will be a 12A.
While the decision may put off fans who want to see Liam Neeson’s Bryan Mills dishing out the hurt in his third on screen outing (especially if the decision to make The Expendables 3 12A is any indication), and stand in stark contrast to the release of the recent 12 Skills of Christmas promo video (now available to view below), it follows 20th Century Fox’s remit and recent run of 12A action movies including the last Die Hard movie.
It’s also extremely likely that an extended cut could eventually surface, and become the DVD/Blu-ray standard, as the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) were originally presented with an incomplete version of the film which they said was “likely to receive a 15” and gave Fox advice on how to receive a 12A “by making reductions in scenes of violence”, and have stated “when the finished version was submitted for formal classification, those changes had been made and the film was classified 12A.”
Nevertheless, in it’s trimmed down form, Tak3n will still see Mills framed for his wife’s murder, on the run from the police (and Platoon’s Forest Whitaker in particular), and onace again attempting to save his daughter (Maggie Grace) from the villains who’re still targeting his family when it’s released on January 8th in the UK, before making its official US release date on the following day (January 9th).
Matt Wheeldon – @TheMattWheeldon.
Source: BBFC.
